Laptop case mods

Thorbar

Anyone know of any decent laptop visual mods? Just got a toshiba and I want to make it look a little less boring/formal. Would like to see a few examples before I decide to try cutting my laptop in half .

vac

Ooer, mostly ive only seen painted ones and not many at that. Laptops are too expensive to be playing around with

koneko

Oooh arrr. Best I've seen it some very very nice paint jobs. There should be a few guides/articles/tips on them around. Check out Hardforum.com - Case Central. There's a lot of modders around those parts, a search there should come up with a few hits.

There isn't much else you can do with a laptop, space restraints and all.

Thorbar

I was thinking of backlighting the keyboard with LED lights and either doing a paint job on the case+keyboard. Still tho I'm a bit scared I'll completely knacker it if I start messing around.

zync

After seeing people mod iBooks and the new Powerbook 17" with fiber optic keyboard backlighting I really wanna mod my laptop. I've purchased all the supplies but I've never gotten around to cutting a single piece of plexi or lexan to the correct dimensions. I kinda got a little impatient because my dad's rotary tool isn't adjustable and it just melts the stuff. So I guess maybe I'll be able to cut it long and then sand it back to spec. In any case I've been wanting to make a clear case and probably paint the inside in a translucent blue. I want to change the LED colors of the Power/HD/Batt. lights as well as create clear keys and backlight them. I may either frost the plexi keys or just leave them blank because I know where they are and it would be funny to see someone try to use it with nothing on the keys. But alass I have no time to do anything on it, and when I do I'm not in the mood to do it....but no one, other than mac users, has really modded anything....believe me I've been looking....:)

Raz

Hi Thorbar,

What kinda tosh laptop do you have? I've got a Satellite Pro 4600 and I've taken it apart as much as I could. I dont see how the keyboard would be backlit. My keyboard can be taken off in its entireity. It's basically a panel with the keys on it that plugs directly into the mobo.
Something else I just thought of, f you start adding extra LEDs and things what's that gonna do to your battery life?
I'd love to put a temp sensor on mine (although I couldn't get at the processor!). It gets friggin' hot and I'd love to know what temps its reaching.
If you were trying to do a new body for the PC I don't see how you'd do it, it's a fiddly thing as it is and to try get everything to fit would be damn difficult imo.

weemcd

this exact same topic was discussed in onother thread with almost the same name and noone posted, now 5 people have posted on this thread WHY?

zync

I'm not sure why that is but I just found this forum by google search...

Capt'n Midnight

You can get power from USB and perhaps use fibres to carry the light to the keyboard (you know the stuff on christmas trees)

Generally laptops are fiddly and lots of easy to break plastic bits - don't ever open one in warranty ...

You could try stickers - the ones that glow under UV and have a low powered UV lamp ..

Actually - if you can get some of that stuff that changes colour when it gets warm - that might be interesting ...

Remember those 3D popup books - you could have something pop up when you open the lid..